We arrived in Ely late Wednesday afternoon. We had wanted to
stay at a casino RV park in town but they were full by the time we got there.
Option two was to take a spot at a private park in town. Nothing fancy but we
did have full hookups as well as cable TV and fast WIFI. We did see where 18
miles out of town was the site of the Ward Charcoal Ovens. The ovens were built
about 1876 to produce charcoal for the smelter serving the gold mines in the
area. The ovens were 35 feet high and would be filled with as much as 35 cords
of pinon pine before they were fired. So at 7:30 pm we headed out to find the
ovens.
We left Ely early Thursday morning for an easy drive to
Great Basin National Park. The park has five campgrounds that are first come
first serve but only one would accommodate our sized RV. We were fortunate to
get in right away. We have a great spot with a running creek right outside our
bedroom window. It is a very relaxing site.
One of the popular activities of Great Basin is a visit to
the Lehman Cave. The cave can only be entered with a guided tour and tickets do
sell out. So we went and bought tickets for the 2:00 pm tour. We have been on
many cave tours and this was one of the best.
This morning we headed out for a hike that took us to the Bristlecone
Pine grove. The Bristlecone pine trees are some of the oldest living on earth.
A bristlecone pine tree found here was determined to be the world’s oldest
living tree at 4,950 years old. At lower elevations, where the conditions are
less extreme, bristlecone pines grow faster and larger, but they die at the
tender age of 300 or 400 years.
Wheeler Peak 13,000 feet
Trail to Bristlecone Pine Grove
Trail to Bristlecone Pine Grove
Trail to Bristlecone Pine Grove
Bristlecone Pine
Bristlecone Pine
Bristlecone Pine
We left Great Basin National Park this morning for Utah. We
have always been drawn to Utah and were anxious to see parts of the state we
have not seen before. Although we
enjoyed the California and Oregon coast and its beautiful scenery we feel Utah
has the whole package, the entire state is a picture postcard.
We passed an extremely large lake, Sevier Lake, rainfall
variations over time have caused this lake to fluctuate between being a dry
lakebed and the state’s third largest body of water. It wasn’t long before we were in the familiar
red rock and canyons that we know as Utah. We are currently staying in Green
River which is just north of Moab which is base for exploring the Arches and
Canyon’s in the area. We will head into Moab in the morning.
Sevier Lake Western Utah
Western Utah
Scenery along interstate 70
